Dom Capers

The defense gave up 206 yards and 21 points on the Seahawks last 3 possessions. And I don't believe there were too many offensive players on the field on that fake FG. It was a staggering collapse. They managed to lull McCarthy into believing (along with the way Seattle's offense was playing) they could hold up. Contrast that to the Detroit and Dallas games where he threw on 3rd down to ice the games rather than put it in Capers and Crew hands.

 

They all royally screwed the pooch. Offense. Defense and ST's. Flowers shouldn't be tossed at any of them. Save Mason Crosby.

If you consider the fact that MM had to involve himself (moreso than in the past) with the defense in the offseason, defensive adjustments midway through the year, and yet another playoff meltdown, I don't know what remaining rope he can give Capers.  At what point does MM say, Capers cannot consistently give me a playoff defense?  MM's loyalty to his coaching staff is his Achilles.

Here's the thing about Capers...

He has been responsible for some historic defensive performances as DC for Green Bay!

 

Unfortunately, they have been historically BAD. Whether it's been an amount of yards given up passing or rushing to a specific position, numbers of points scored within a quarter or half, it culminated in yet another historic bed crapper. Of epic proportions this time.

 

Whether it's scheme, coaching, players, or any other variable, the end results are what we are left with at the end of our seasons. And they haven't been pretty.

Yeah, it's time for a change. It does players no good to sacrifice, work hard, and overcome injuries to have a season end prematurely time and time again. Not to mention coaches, and certainly not to mention fans.

I'm ready for a different approach, whatever that may be.

 

simplify

simplify

simplify

 

Ted, just admit it.  Time to rid us of A.J. Hawk.

The wizard beat by a gypsy curse, apparently.

 

 

 

 

 

I am tired of stupid football. Always unprepared for something- read option, fake FGs, onside kicks, ridiculous 2 point conversions, deep passes. They repeatedly play stupid football and they need to stop. I don't know if Capers is part of it, but it's part of what needs change on this team. How to be a step ahead. Time to get rid of dead weight.

Capers cannot consistently give me a playoff defense? 

ah, but he did for 55 minutes.  it was STs that doomed the Pack Sunday.  I ain't willing to lay that one solely on Capers, no way.

The epic collapse was a total team effort and it's unfair to pin it on Capers, but the issues the defense has had with finishing this year reappeared in the game. Those last three possessions were brutal and it's a sixty minute game. 

Actually, it was a 65 minute game give or take with OT.  Defense failed to show up in the last 10 minutes on three straight drives.  I don't know how you can't assign some blame to the defense there.

I don't believe anyone is pinning it all on Capers. He's done some great things in Green bay.

He beat the bears in the NFC CG & won a super bowl for us. I will always be grateful.

It's simply time to move in another direction, that's all.

The Seahawks are a very good 2nd half team. They make adjustments as well as anyone in the league. As a defense you go in with a plan. You can't expect it to be as effective throughout the game as it is in the beginning.

You can't deny that a play unmade on offense or defense would have compensated for the failures on special teams. But the STs have so consistently under performed for several years that I don't see how the Packers can't hold Slowcum accountable. If you can't convince your people to work together and execute their assignments, what qualification do you have as a leader?

One negative aspect of the defense that should have been junked just as quickly as the Quad is the insistence on rushing only 3 on third and long. The Packers have been burned a number of times over the years when Capers calls that. It helped give life to a Seahawks offense that was going no where and greased the skids for the fake FG disaster.

That's why I never relaxed until just before the fake FG.  SEA has made a living of owning the 4th quarter this this year and you had to think they were going to make a run of it again on sunday.  I just thought they would come up short!

Under pressure of the last 5 minutes he coached this team to lose. 3rd and 19 a two man rush?... who didn't see a first down coming when you give Wison 7.5 seconds?... Hawk on the field for the seasons most important drive and immediately Lynch runs right at him and past him. Hawk in the wrong gap. Surprise? Here is Bob McGinn: "Most of A.J. Hawk's 17 snaps came when Matthews became exhausted late and had to leave. Because Hawk worked to the A rather than the B gap, Lynch had an easy 24-yard TD through the B gap. Of course, when Hawk was in the right gap, it didn't make any difference when he dived and missed on an 11-yard carry by Lynch."

 

If Mathews wasn't available then put in anyone, anyone. Simply for allowing Hawk on the field at all for the past few years Capers should be fired.

 

In overtime, you know Wilson and Capers will play like riverboat gamblers, so you play no safety back? He coached the hell out of the first 55 minutes, then folded like he always does. Needs to be replaced. His replacement may not be better, but I think if there was an owner for this team, Capers would have been gone a long time ago.

 

Plus, to overcome this awful ending and in the hope it doesn't demoralize them for next year, you need to bring in someone else to give the players hope that things will be different. With Capers around it will be in the back of their minds that the same thing will likely happen again. This game was a fluke. More things went wrong for the Packers, against all odds than could seemingly be possible. But something must be done to reenergize the players. Firing Capers and bringing in someone else may do that. 

@PackerUpdate  ·  Jan 18

Packers have allowed 684 yards rushing in last 3 playoff losses.

I can go either way on Dom.   I actually gave up on him back in the Kaperdink fiascos a couple of years ago.  However if these players do not come back HIGHLY MOTIVATED and pissed off at what could have should have been a coaching change will not matter.

Agree. 

 

Not to mention, our "MVP" QB was given the ball 5 additional times on turnovers created by Capers defense and one by ST. The defense also confused Rusty Wilson and forced multiple punts. Packer offense had an avalanche of opportunities.

 

The MVP threw for the exact number of TOUCHDOWN'S as did Jon Ryan. A fugging punter. That's coming up small on the BIG stage. Obviously not all on Rodgers, but the point is,.. the offense came up small.

19-7.  3:52 left.  Seattle ball 1st and 10 at their own 31.  1 timeout.

 

Seattle is leading 22-19 2:27 later.  Without having to even use that timeout.

 

But, yes.  Let's blame the loss on "Aaron Rodgers" on one leg vs the best defense in the NFL.

 

Genius.

That's a silly stat. AR also "threw as many TD's as the game winning QB did, and half the number of INT's"!

Missing the point. The best player in the league needs to grab the game by the throat. It could have been a much bigger margin at halftime if he did.

 

Granted MM's play calling and all the other fiascoes were greater factors, but don't absolve Rodgers. From JSO today:

Aaron Rodgers is 0-3 against Pete Carroll's Seahawks with a long completion of 31 yards. This time, he didn't hit a pass more than 13 yards downfield. Granted, the Seahawks have the NFL's best secondary, but many regard Rodgers as its best quarterback. His protection was little short of superlative. He missed deep five times, including two to Nelson and two to Adams. The trajectory of his long balls was off. He cost the Packers a field goal by throwing late to Adams and having it picked off by Sherman in the back of the end zone. There was no need to throw that second interception on first down from the Seattle 33. He came close to a third on a too-flat throw to Nelson when Maxwell was all over him at the front pylon. Yes, the calf might have been an inconvenience. It also was his fourth game playing with the injury, and he moved better on it this time. Lacy was set up for a big gain on a screen when Rodgers stepped the wrong way and then bailed out on the throw, never even giving the play a chance. He could have attacked the wounded Sherman but didn't. When Russell Wilson emerged from his horrendous funk to make game-winning plays, Rodgers offered little in the second half. Of course, he made a few great throws. His lethal hard counts also drew Seattle off three times. In the end, Wilson proved to be the tougher man to beat. Great players need to make great plays in conference title games, and Rodgers really didn't make any.

Rodgers threw for 178 yards. How is that acceptable? The long throws Wilson hit at the end Rodgers was missing all day long. With the talent on this offense whe should score more than 22 points on anyone in the league.

This loss is:

60% on the offense

39% on STs

1% on the defense

Nobody is absolving AR.  But to compare his TD total to the punter is completely misleading the point.  Let's not forget RW was throwing those 2 passes against a completely cluster****ed D that was in the processes of a historic collapse.  AR was throwing against the SEA D.  Again, he clearly didn't have an mvp game but some of these comparisons are really skewed.

Your math is off. I checked again. Clearly 51% offense, 45% special teams, 4% defense.

The D allowed 15 points in regulation, the offense scored 22. Considering the circumstances (I.e. Playing the leagues best D and a top 10 O), I truly think both efforts were good enough to win. Sure you can point to a couple bad calls on offense and defense, but you can say the same about the Seahawks and every team in every game. No coach will ever call a perfect game. It comes down to points and our point differential with the O and the D was good enough to win.

1 Special Teams f*ck up was the difference. In my opinion Hawk made a poor choice in attacking Ryan rather than do his only job. He's the deep man on the FG block team, the only deep man. He was trying to stop the 1st down rather than actually read what was happening. Blame Rodgers or Bostick or McCarthy if you want, but the game truly came down to 1 bad read and 1 bad decision. If Hawk covers that OL then I doubt Ryan can run for the 1st and even if he does there's no guarantee the Seahawks get 7. At that point our D was stifling their O. I'm not usually one to call for firing coaches, but Slocum has run a historically schizophrenic ST. Sometimes we see brilliant fakes or execution, but often we see mediocre production and mediocre execution.

Especially with 5 turnovers, 4 in one half.

 

Dammit! Now I'm getting all pissed off again. Hate it when that happens.

What long throws all day long? The only one I can remember is the throw to Starks against a LB. They wouldn't throw deep on a dare even when Sherman had one arm. The Seahawks probably had their version of Casey Hayward but you wouldn't know it by the passes the Packers attempted.

We kicked TWO FGs that were shorter than extra points.

 

The OC and the coaches need to find a play that can get the Packers in the EZ from inside the 10 yard line. Other teams get guys open. JJ Watt has multiple easy TD receptions. That was a huge KNOWN problem that really hurt is this game.

What long throws did Wilson actually hit besides the 3rd and 19 and the game winner really? Every other time he tried one it was either picked, tipped and picked, or dropped.

McGinn has a disdain for Rodgers that always come through.  "playing with the calf might have been an inconvenience"--really, Bob. 

 

Of course, the topper was last year, when Bob proclaimed right before the Rodgers was injured that the team could win without him.  It's that kind of stellar analysis that makes Bob the sage he is.

What long throws all day long? The only one I can remember is the throw to Starks against a LB.

 Well here's another one.

 

Seattle DE was offsides on that play. Linsley spotted him in the neutral zone and snapped it. AR saw it as well. Went to Adams thinking free play. 

 

 

**** happens. 

Packers don't use enough play-action down there, for my liking. It's either straight ahead run or throw with an empty backfield.

 

Time to dust off the old Brent to Bubba Franks plays. Those TDs counted, too.

Best place to start fixing red zone and short is to shelve the Kuhn quick hitter for all time. You have Eddie Lacy. Go big, hit him into the line twice. You're conversion rate will improve dramatically if you do nothing other than that. 

So you don't agree with this either, then.

Great players need to make great plays in conference title games, and Rodgers really didn't make any.

AR failed to meet the standards he's set for himself and I fully expect him to say he should have played better on his radio show today. The collapse was a team effort and he's not exempt from the criticism.

Packers don't use enough play-action down there, for my liking. It's either straight ahead run or throw with an empty backfield.

I agree.  Has frustrated me for a lot of the MM years.

I hope he is not another Peyton.....Mr October

Nope.   Great players need to play well.  "Great plays" is subjective.  Rodgers made enough plays to win the game, only costly turnover to fault him for was the second one.

 

Rodgers had one bad throw on the second int, the first was a throw-away shot because he thought there was an offsides (see gif above), and the screen pass that was bad.  On the other hand, Nelson dropped a TD pass because he stumbled.  Against this defense,  given his limitations, and given the game plan, I thought Rodgers played well enough.

The Offense is to blame.  They didn't take advantage of several opportunities given them with turnovers.

 

The Defense is to blame.  The scenario they were faced with was preventing 2 TDs in 3:52 with Seattle starting on their own 31.  They gave up the lead in 2:27.  Don't care how well you performed the first 56 minutes if you are gonna allow 15 points in less than 2:30 minutes.  

 

The Special Teams is to blame.  Fake FG eff up when everyone should have been looking for it.  A disastrous Onside Kick recovery where you had a little used player out there at the most critical juncture of the season,  depending on him to make the right play.  Blame Bostick all you want, but having him out there on hands team with the Super Bowl on the line seems ludicrous to me.

 

The Coaching is to blame.  McCarthy coached scared throughout.  He was conservative throughout.  He went into a shell and hoped the clock would win the game instead of his prolific offense.  He was concerned about getting Lacy 20 carries, but it felt like he was prioritizing that over taking what the defense gave them.  When he could have iced the game, he ran 5 times right into the heart of the best defense in the NFL with nothing but the most obvious of runs.  And, in his most bizarre and damning issue that I will never in a million years understand - McCarthy doesn't go after a one armed DB in any meaningful way.  Allowing Sherman to stand out there with one arm and not be forced to cover someone, defend a pass, or tackle someone is downright criminal, and the fact that the local media isn't grilling him on that is crazy to me.  

 

Yet, every unit played championship football until 3:52.  (yes I'll even grant the Fake FG).  I know everyone is pissed because AR didn't put up 78 points on the best defense in the NFL, but take the "ONLY 19 POINTS" out and look at the context.  The offense played well enough to produce a 12 point lead with 3:52 left.  And regardless of the opportunities missed, a 12 point lead with 3:52 against the best defense in the NFL should have been more than enough. The defense played OUTSTANDING for the first 56:08 of the game, easily the best game I've seen since the days of Reggie White and Fritz Shurmur.  They were disciplined, they covered, the prevented huge runs from Wilson.  Just a great job for 56 minutes.  The ST coverage teams were great, Crosby was great.  Yes, the Fake FG sucked, but I'll even give you that one, as it was a perfectly designed playcall. 

 

Then every member of the franchise decided to soil themselves.